Out of bounds
Andy Yap et al.
Psychological Science, forthcoming
Abstract:
Research in environmental sciences has found that the ergonomic design of human-made environments influences thought, feeling and action. Here, we examine the impact of physical environments on dishonest behavior. Four studies tested whether certain bodily configurations - or postures - incidentally imposed by our environment lead to increases in dishonest behavior. The first three experiments found that individuals who engaged in expansive postures (either explicitly or inadvertently) were more likely to steal money, cheat on a test, and commit traffic violations in a driving simulation. Results suggested that participants' self-reported sense of power mediated the link between postural expansiveness and dishonesty. Study 4 revealed that automobiles with more expansive drivers' seats were more likely to be illegally parked on New York City streets. Taken together, results suggest that: (1) environments that expand the body can inadvertently lead us to feel more powerful, and (2) these feelings of power can cause dishonest behavior.
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Social Class Rank, Essentialism, and Punitive Judgment
Michael Kraus & Dacher Keltner
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, forthcoming
Abstract:
Recent evidence suggests that perceptions of social class rank influence a variety of social cognitive tendencies, from patterns of causal attribution to moral judgment. In the present studies we tested the hypotheses that upper-class rank individuals would be more likely to endorse essentialist lay theories of social class categories (i.e., that social class is founded in genetically based, biological differences) than would lower-class rank individuals and that these beliefs would decrease support for restorative justice - which seeks to rehabilitate offenders, rather than punish unlawful action. Across studies, higher social class rank was associated with increased essentialism of social class categories (Studies 1, 2, and 4) and decreased support for restorative justice (Study 4). Moreover, manipulated essentialist beliefs decreased preferences for restorative justice (Study 3), and the association between social class rank and class-based essentialist theories was explained by the tendency to endorse beliefs in a just world (Study 2). Implications for how class-based essentialist beliefs potentially constrain social opportunity and mobility are discussed.
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Religiosity, Political Orientation, and Consequentialist Moral Thinking
Jared Piazza & Paulo Sousa
Social Psychological and Personality Science, forthcoming
Abstract:
Three studies demonstrated that the moral judgments of religious individuals and political conservatives are highly insensitive to consequentialist (i.e., outcome-based) considerations. In Study 1, both religiosity and political conservatism predicted a resistance toward consequentialist thinking concerning a range of transgressive acts, independent of other relevant dispositional factors (e.g., disgust sensitivity). Study 2 ruled out differences in welfare sensitivity as an explanation for these findings. In Study 3, religiosity and political conservatism predicted a commitment to judging "harmless" taboo violations morally impermissible, rather than discretionary, despite the lack of negative consequences rising from the act. Furthermore, non-consequentialist thinking style was shown to mediate the relationship religiosity/conservatism had with impermissibility judgments, while intuitive thinking style did not. These data provide further evidence for the influence of religious and political commitments in motivating divergent moral judgments, while highlighting a new dispositional factor, non-consequentialist thinking style, as a mediator of these effects.
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Self-Esteem, Moral Capital, and Wrongdoing
Ernesto Dal Bó & Marko Terviö
Journal of the European Economic Association, June 2013, Pages 599-663
Abstract:
We present an infinite-horizon planner-doer model of moral standards, where individuals receive random temptations (such as bribe offers) and must decide which to resist. Individual actions depend both on conscious deliberation and on a type reflecting unconscious drives. Temptations yield consumption value, but confidence in being the type of person who resists temptations yields self-esteem. We identify conditions for individuals to build an introspective reputation for goodness ("moral capital") and for good actions to lead to a stronger disposition to do good. Bad actions destroy moral capital and lock-in further wrongdoing. Economic shocks that result in higher temptations have long-lasting effects on wrongdoing. We show how optimal deterrence can change under endogenous moral costs and how wrongdoing can be compounded as high temptation activities attract individuals with low moral capital.
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Consistent-handed individuals are more authoritarian
Keith Lyle & Michael Grillo
Laterality: Asymmetries of Body, Brain and Cognition, forthcoming
Abstract:
Individuals differ in the consistency with which they use one hand over the other to perform everyday activities. Some individuals are very consistent, habitually using a single hand to perform most tasks. Others are relatively inconsistent, and hence make greater use of both hands. More- versus less-consistent individuals have been shown to differ in numerous aspects of personality and cognition. In several respects consistent-handed individuals resemble authoritarian individuals. For example, both consistent-handedness and authoritarianism have been linked to cognitive inflexibility. Therefore we hypothesised that consistent-handedness is an external marker for authoritarianism. Confirming our hypothesis, we found that consistent-handers scored higher than inconsistent-handers on a measure of submission to authority, were more likely to identify with a conservative political party (Republican), and expressed less-positive attitudes towards out-groups. We propose that authoritarianism may be influenced by the degree of interaction between the left and right brain hemispheres, which has been found to differ between consistent- and inconsistent-handed individuals.
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Explicit risk of getting caught does not affect unethical behavior
Eyal Gamliel & Eyal Peer
Journal of Applied Social Psychology, June 2013, Pages 1281-1288
Abstract:
Research showed that given the opportunity, people behave dishonestly only to the degree that will allow them to maintain a positive self-concept. These experiments did not include the probability of getting caught cheating, although in everyday life, this risk always exists. If it is shown that people behave more honestly when faced with an explicit risk of getting caught, the ecological validity of these experiments may be at risk. This study showed that explicit risk, framed as the probability of getting caught or as the complementary probability of not getting caught, did not reduce participants' dishonest behavior relative to no risk. These findings support the ecological validity of previous research on unethical behavior.
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People are more likely to be insincere when they are more likely to accidentally tell the truth
Sylvie Leblois & Jean-François Bonnefon
Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, forthcoming
Abstract:
Although people lie often, and mostly for self-serving reasons, they do not lie as much as they could. The "fudge factor" hypothesis suggests that one reason for people not to lie is that they do not wish to self-identify as liars. Accordingly, self-serving lies should be more likely when they are less obvious to the liars themselves. Here we show that the likelihood of self-serving lies increases with the probability of accidentally telling the truth. Players in our game could transmit sincere or insincere recommendations to their competitors. In line with the fudge factor hypothesis, players lied when their beliefs were based on flimsy evidence and did not lie when their beliefs were based on solid evidence. This is the first demonstration of a new moral hypocrisy paradox: People are more likely to be insincere when they are more likely to accidentally tell the truth.
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Florien Cramwinckel, David De Cremer & Marius van Dijke
Journal of Business Ethics, June 2013, Pages 93-100
Abstract:
We studied the role of social dynamics in moral decision-making and behavior by investigating how physical sensations of dirtiness versus cleanliness influence moral behavior in leader-subordinate relationships, and whether a leader's self-interest functions as a boundary condition to this effect. A pilot study (N = 78) revealed that when participants imagined rewarding (vs. punishing) unethical behavior of a subordinate, they felt more dirty. Our main experiment (N = 96) showed that directly manipulating dirtiness by allowing leaders to touch a dirty object (fake poop) led to more positive evaluations of, and higher bonuses for, unethical subordinates than touching a clean object (hygienic hand wipe). This effect, however, only emerged when the subordinate's unethical behavior did not serve the leader's own interest. Hence, subtle cues such as bodily sensations can shape moral decision-making and behavior in leader-subordinate relationships, but self-interest, as a core characteristic of interdependence, can override the influence of such cues on the leader's moral behavior.
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Ian McGregor et al.
Personality and Individual Differences, forthcoming
Abstract:
In two experiments (Ns = 105 and 49) the most grandiose individuals with the lowest implicit self-esteem became particularly callous toward their suffering peers after receiving praise about their own personality attributes. Self-reported grandiosity belied by low implicit self-esteem reflects the classic view of narcissism as defensive pride that masks less conscious shame or self-doubt (cf., Jordan, Spencer, Zanna, Hoshino-Browne, & Correll, 2003). Results support the classic view of narcissism and reveal that narcissistic disregard for others can be precipitated by praise.
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Lydia Woodyatt & Michael Wenzel
Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, November 2013, Pages 951-958
Abstract:
Effective processing of a transgression must involve accepting responsibility for one's wrongdoing. However accepting responsibility may mean increasing the threat of social exclusion which offenders face as a result of their transgression, yet humans are fundamentally motivated to avoid this type of threat. Pseudo self-forgiveness is the use of minimization of harm, denial of wrongdoing, or victim derogation in order to release oneself from guilt and shame. This research examines the defensive psychological process of pseudo self-forgiveness and the impact of threat to belonging on a transgressor's engagement with this defensive response in both an experimental setting and real life. Study 1 used a lab based approach, manipulating the threat to belonging with an ostracism task. Ostracized participants minimized harm to the victim, reported less shame, regret and self-anger and less desire to reconcile with the victim. Study 2 followed participants over the 11 days after committing an interpersonal transgression. Results of analyses with linear mixed modeling suggest that the more rejected participants felt the more they engaged in pseudo self-forgiveness. Hostile responses from the victim were positively associated with pseudo self-forgiveness and others' respectful confrontation was negatively associated with pseudo self-forgiveness. Results suggest that need for belonging is a key variable for rehabilitation after committing a transgression.
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High levels of psychopathic traits alters moral choice but not moral judgment
Sébastien Tassy et al.
Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, June 2013
Abstract:
Psychopathy is a personality disorder frequently associated with immoral behaviors. Previous behavioral studies on the influence of psychopathy on moral decision have yielded contradictory results, possibly because they focused either on judgment (abstract evaluation) or on choice of hypothetical action, two processes that may rely on different mechanisms. In this study, we explored the influence of the level of psychopathic traits on judgment and choice of hypothetical action during moral dilemma evaluation. A population of 102 students completed a questionnaire with ten moral dilemmas and nine non-moral dilemmas. The task included questions targeting both judgment ("Is it acceptable to ... in order to ...?") and choice of hypothetical action ("Would you ... in order to ...?"). The level of psychopathic traits of each participant was evaluated with the Levenson Self-Report Psychopathy (LSRP) scale. Logistic regression fitted with the generalized estimating equations method analyses were conducted using responses to the judgment and choice tasks as the dependent variables and psychopathy scores as predictor. Results show that a high level of psychopathic traits, and more specifically those related to affective deficit, predicted a greater proportion of utilitarian responses for the choice but not for the judgment question. There was no first-order interaction between the level of psychopathic traits and other potential predictors. The relation between a high level of psychopathic traits and increased utilitarianism in choice of action but not in moral judgment may explain the contradictory results of previous studies where these two processes were not contrasted. It also gives further support to the hypothesis that choice of action endorsement and abstract judgment during moral dilemma evaluation are partially distinct neural and psychological processes. We propose that this distinction should be better taken into account in the evaluation of psychopathic behaviors.
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It takes one to know one: Relationship between lie detection and psychopathy
Minna Lyons, Nina Healy & Davide Bruno
Personality and Individual Differences, forthcoming
Abstract:
We investigated primary and secondary psychopathy and the ability to detect high-stakes, real-life emotional lies in an on-line experiment (N = 150). Using signal detection analysis, we found that lie detection ability was overall above chance level, there was a tendency towards responding liberally to the test stimuli, and women were more accurate than men. Further, sex moderated the relationship between psychopathy and lie detection ability; in men, primary psychopathy had a significant positive correlation with the ability to detect lies, whereas in women there was a significant negative correlation with deception detection. The results are discussed with reference to evolutionary theory and sex differences in processing socio-emotional information.
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The Heritability of Moral Standards for Everyday Dishonesty
Peter Loewen et al.
Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, forthcoming
Abstract:
Previous research on the acceptability of dishonest actions has focused on the role of social norms and internal reward mechanisms. Using a sample of over 2,000 Swedish adult twins, this manuscript examines whether there exists another source that is driving differences in perceptions of the acceptability of dishonest actions: genetic variation. We find that much of the variation in perceptions of the acceptability of dishonest actions is attributable to genetic variation between individuals.
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Authority dependence and judgments of utilitarian harm
Jared Piazza, Paulo Sousa & Colin Holbrook
Cognition, September 2013, Pages 261-270
Abstract:
Three studies tested the conditions under which people judge utilitarian harm to be authority dependent (i.e., whether its right or wrongness depends on the ruling of an authority). In Study 1, participants judged the right or wrongness of physical abuse when used as an interrogation method anticipated to yield useful information for preventing future terrorist attacks. The ruling of the military authority towards the harm was manipulated (prohibited vs. prescribed) and found to significantly influence judgments of the right or wrongness of inflicting harm. Study 2 established a boundary condition with regards to the influence of authority, which was eliminated when the utility of the harm was definitely obtained rather than forecasted. Finally, Study 3 replicated the findings of Studies 1-2 in a completely different context - an expert committee's ruling about the harming of chimpanzees for biomedical research. These results are discussed as they inform ongoing debates regarding the role of authority in moderating judgments of complex and simple harm.
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The Dark Triad and animal cruelty: Dark personalities, dark attitudes, and dark behaviors
Phillip Kavanagh, Tania Signal & Nik Taylor
Personality and Individual Differences, forthcoming
Abstract:
Research examining the interpersonal interactions of those high on the Dark Triad has proliferated in recent years. Extant research, however, has not examined other types of relationships such as attitudes and behaviors towards animals. Further, there has been limited research examining the associations between personality and attitudes and behaviors towards animals generally. In this study, participants (N = 227) completed an online survey measuring the Dark Triad, attitudes towards animals, and acts of animal cruelty. The results revealed that individuals with higher levels of the Dark Triad demonstrated less positive attitudes towards animals and reported engaging in more acts of animal cruelty. Age and sex were found to be significant predictors of less positive attitudes and behaviors towards animals, independent of the Dark Triad. These results suggest that those callous and manipulative behaviors and attitudes that have come to be associated with the Dark Triad are not just limited to human-to-human interactions, but are also consistent across other interactions.
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Lies in Disguise - An Experimental Study on Cheating
Urs Fischbacher & Franziska Föllmi-Heusi
Journal of the European Economic Association, June 2013, Pages 525-547
Abstract:
We present a novel experimental design to measure honesty and lying. Participants receive a die which they roll privately. Since their payoff depends on the reported roll of the die, the subjects have an incentive to be dishonest and report higher numbers to get a higher payoff. This design has three advantages. First, cheating cannot be detected on the individual level, which reduces potential demand effects. Second, the method is very easy to implement. Third, the underlying true distribution of the outcome under full honesty is known, and hence it is possible to test different theoretical predictions. We find that about 20% of inexperienced subjects lie to the fullest extent possible while 39% of subjects are fully honest. In addition, a high share of subjects consists of partial liars; these subjects lie, but do not report the payoff-maximizing draw. We discuss different motives that explain the observed behavioral pattern.
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The Moral Compass of Insecurity: Anxious and Avoidant Attachment Predict Moral Judgment
Spassena Koleva et al.
Social Psychological and Personality Science, forthcoming
Abstract:
Three studies examined the associations between relational adult attachment and moral judgment. Study 1 shows that attachment-related anxiety and avoidance are uniquely and differentially related to moral concerns. Relative to low insecurity, higher avoidance was associated with weaker moral concerns about harm and unfairness, whereas higher anxiety was associated with stronger moral concerns about harm, unfairness, and impurity. Study 2 replicates these associations and shows that the effect for harm and fairness is mediated by attachment differences in empathic concern, whereas the effect for purity is mediated by disgust sensitivity. Furthermore, using an alternative measure of moral judgment we replicate the negative association between avoidance and harm concerns. Study 3 unpacks fairness judgments into three subcomponents and shows that even at this level avoidance and anxiety show divergent associations. Future directions for empirical examinations of morality and attachment are discussed.
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Anna Baumert, Anna Halmburger & Manfred Schmitt
Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, forthcoming
Abstract:
Moral courage is characterized as a bystander intervention against the norm violations of a perpetrator despite the potential for negative consequences for oneself. We tested a comprehensive set of potential personality determinants of moral courage derived from a model of helping. In Study 1, we used a vignette to assess the self-reported willingness to intervene against a theft. In Study 2, the theft was put into effect, and behavioral reactions were observed. The results of Study 1 showed that moral disengagement, self-efficacy, and social anxiety, which are traits that are known to predict helping, were also related to moral courage intentions. Differently, in Study 2, real moral courage was predicted only by beneficiary sensitivity, a disposition that captures perceptual readiness and affective reactivity to perceived injustice. Our results provide insights into the processes involved in moral courage in a realistic situation and stress the importance of behavioral observations.
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Honesty on the Streets: A Field Study on Newspaper Purchasing
Gerald Pruckner & Rupert Sausgruber
Journal of the European Economic Association, June 2013, Pages 661-679
Abstract:
Many publishers use an honor system for selling newspapers in the street. We conducted a field experiment to study honesty in this market, finding that a moral reminder increases the level of honesty in payments, whereas the same message has no effect on whether one is honest. Reminding customers of the legal norm has no effect. We argue that these results are consistent with a preference for honesty, based on an internalized social norm. Auxiliary evidence suggests that the moral message remains effective when it is posted for longer periods, and even when it is removed again.
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Temporal Dynamics of Disgust and Morality: An Event-Related Potential Study
Qun Yang et al.
PLoS ONE, May 2013
Abstract:
Disgust is argued to be an emotion that motivates the avoidance of disease-causing entities in the physical domain and unacceptable behaviors in the social-moral domain. Empirical work from behavioral, physiological and brain imaging studies suggests moral judgments are strongly modulated by disgust feelings. Yet, it remains unclear how they are related in the time course of neural processing. Examining the temporal order of disgust emotion and morality could help to clarify the role of disgust in moral judgments. In the present research, a Go/No-Go paradigm was employed to evoke lateralized readiness potentials (LRPs) to investigate the temporal order of physical disgust and moral information processing. Participants were asked to give a "yes" or "no" response regarding the physical disgust and moral wrongness of a social act. The results showed that the evaluation of moral information was processed prior to that of physical disgust information. This suggests that moral information is available earlier than physical disgust, and provides more data on the biological heterogeneity between disgust and morality in terms of the time course of neural activity. The findings implicate that physical disgust emotion may not be necessary for people to make moral judgments. They also suggest that some of our moral experience may be more fundamental (than physical disgust experience) to our survival and development, as humans spend a considerable amount of time engaging in social interaction.